Sabie is one of my favorite stops on the MTN National marathon mountain biking series. The course suites me with its endlessly long climbs. With the excellent work put into organizing these National Series events by the Advendurance crew paying off, this race was incorporated into the UCI World Cup marathon mountain biking series and therefore UCI points and a spot on the start line at the World Marathon Championships in France later this year were all up for grabs! This also attracted some international riders such as the Bulls team none other than Karl Platt and Stefan Sahm together 3x winners of the ABSA Cape Epic!
Having said this the race started at a relatively steady pace unlike the previous few races frantic scuffle in the beginning. I think this is because as you start here in Sabie you also start to climb the monstrous climbs! About 10km into the race on a steady ascent Kevin Evans decided the pace was too easy for him and picked it up. Only his team mate David George and two others were able to follow him. I then found myself in a decent position in the chase bunch of about 7 guys with my team mate from Blend Property Charles and the Bulls guys. We settled into a solid rhythm and slogged our way up the 8km infamous mamba switchbacks climb. As we went over the top at about 25km I felt good and comfortable, however, not for long as all was about to change...
The recent rainfall had wreaked havoc with the steep mountain tracks and were nicely eroded with lots of loose sharp rocks. I came to realize this very quickly as I went round the one corner at quite a speed (it was a steep downhill...) and lost control. It was a bit of a blur to me at the time but I got back up (nothing seemed broken!) and straightened out a few things on my bike and continued riding. However, I started realizing that I was hurting quite a bit and my bike wasn't working quite so well. I managed to fix my cleats that were loose from having ripped the screws out from under my shoes somehow from my crash. Otherwise I had fallen far back in the field by the time we started the second half-marathon part of the route and I just continued rather slowly to limp over the finish line a long time after the winner Kevin Evans who put on a phenomenal performance!
It was obviously very disappointing for me as it was a big race with a lot at stake in which I was doing well at the time! I suppose that's the way the sport goes and I just got to mend myself both physically and mentally to look forward to the next race.
I had my number one supporter Jayde there with me throughout the race and helping me with everything afterwards as I was a bit immobile until, the doctor started stitching up my arm and she started feeling dizzy and had to leave the room before she passed out, hehe.
Having said this the race started at a relatively steady pace unlike the previous few races frantic scuffle in the beginning. I think this is because as you start here in Sabie you also start to climb the monstrous climbs! About 10km into the race on a steady ascent Kevin Evans decided the pace was too easy for him and picked it up. Only his team mate David George and two others were able to follow him. I then found myself in a decent position in the chase bunch of about 7 guys with my team mate from Blend Property Charles and the Bulls guys. We settled into a solid rhythm and slogged our way up the 8km infamous mamba switchbacks climb. As we went over the top at about 25km I felt good and comfortable, however, not for long as all was about to change...
The recent rainfall had wreaked havoc with the steep mountain tracks and were nicely eroded with lots of loose sharp rocks. I came to realize this very quickly as I went round the one corner at quite a speed (it was a steep downhill...) and lost control. It was a bit of a blur to me at the time but I got back up (nothing seemed broken!) and straightened out a few things on my bike and continued riding. However, I started realizing that I was hurting quite a bit and my bike wasn't working quite so well. I managed to fix my cleats that were loose from having ripped the screws out from under my shoes somehow from my crash. Otherwise I had fallen far back in the field by the time we started the second half-marathon part of the route and I just continued rather slowly to limp over the finish line a long time after the winner Kevin Evans who put on a phenomenal performance!
It was obviously very disappointing for me as it was a big race with a lot at stake in which I was doing well at the time! I suppose that's the way the sport goes and I just got to mend myself both physically and mentally to look forward to the next race.
No comments:
Post a Comment